


Day After

by emotionallyA



Series: The Song of The Abyss - ARCHIVED [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: F/M, Female Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), Hair Braiding, Kissing, Light Angst, Misunderstandings, Named Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-18
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:00:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22782166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emotionallyA/pseuds/emotionallyA
Summary: "You are quite the enigma, Lady Cassiel."She shrugged, slinging her pack over her shoulder. "You kind of have to be when you routinely get thrown at primals."
Relationships: Warrior of Light/Estinien Wyrmblood
Series: The Song of The Abyss - ARCHIVED [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1626862
Kudos: 19





	Day After

**Author's Note:**

> Maintenance fic! Even though we have a pretty short maintenance this time ;)
> 
> This takes place immediately-ish after Quiet.

It was nearing midday when Estinien awoke. He blinked blearily at the ceiling for a while before he noticed someone else was in the bed. Cassiel, who was dressed in just her small clothes. She'd stuck to his side sometime during the night and had thoroughly tangled their legs together. Her breath tickled his throat. He should probably move. Maybe in another minute. He was still quite tired.

_ This is your fault, dumbass. _ A small voice in his head chided. Well, the voice was certainly not wrong. Slowly, memories of last night filtered through the sleepiness in his brain. A small cave, the wind howling outside, scars glittering under the blue light of a glow stick. The dark pools of her eyes and the weight of her words. The salvation of the star piled on the shoulders of one woman. A woman who’s shoulders were already scarred. He remembered her standing before him last night. It looked like a wild animal had tried to tear out her shoulder. A wicked scar drew a line from her hip to her knee. A smattering of pitted marks below her left breast, stretching around to her back. Countless other mars and imperfections. 

But, she was still standing. She still helped him to the inn after he  _ stupidly _ drained his aether. The Scions put the world on her shoulders and she still had the strength to tease him. She was currently sleeping on his shoulder with an arm thrown over his chest. Her face had smoothed out, any lingering tension had been drained away by the pull of sleep. Gods, he didn’t even know her last name but he was still infatuated. 

He didn't know how long had passed when Cassiel stirred. Estinien froze, as if his thinking had roused her. “Are you awake?” she mumbled, squirming around to change her position. She dragged his arm over her as she turned to press her back against his side. Without waiting for a reply, she blindly reached a hand up and patted his temple. “G’back to sleep, Estinien.” He caught her hand as she pulled it away and gently pressed a kiss to her knuckles. She smiled and within a few moments her breathing had slowed back down. 

The gesture made him feel more at ease. She wanted him there, at least for now. A few quiet moments came and went, accompanied by their soft breathing. The lure of sleep gradually crept over Estinien and pulled him under once more.

-

Once Estinien’s breathing had slowed and evened out, Cassiel brought her hand up and gently smacked herself in the face. Now that she’d gotten some sleep and wasn’t just coming down from a whole day of battle, her brain had finally turned off the auto-pilot. She’d barely been thinking after he had landed in front of her, hair blowing in the wind like some kind of hero from a storybook. It’d taken way too much of her self control to keep from running her hands through his hair. It was beautifully white and shiny. And  _ so long _ . How on earth did he keep it all tucked away and hidden in his helmet? Even now her fingers itched to feel it, to see if it was as soft as it looked. 

Being as distracted as she was with his hair and the ache of battle in her bones, she had slipped, quite a lot. She hadn’t meant to spill her problems on him. Though, she’d probably made up for it at least in part by getting him into a bed after he’d completely drained himself. Which had been an  _ incredibly  _ bad idea in the first place, not that she could have noticed his aether levels in any way. The walk really wouldn’t have been that bad! She sighed. It was too late now to do anything. Now she could just pointedly ignore how brazen she had been last night and set herself up to be disappointed when he woke up. 

Cassiel squirmed a bit to try and get comfortable. His arm that she had pulled over her hugged her tighter and she could feel his breath at the back of her neck. Oh it was not going to be very fun when he wanted to never see her again after this. It was clearly not enough that she was some godsdamned hero, she also had to be smitten over a man intent on harming her in some way or another each time they met. Tomorrow’s problem. She should get some sleep while she can. It was already a miracle some primal hadn’t materialized yet.

\----------

The next time Estinien awoke, dawn was breaking outside the window. Cassiel was still tucked under his arm, sleeping soundly, as far as he could tell. Which was good, as the heat in his groin indicated a problem to be taken care of before she noticed. He gently untangled their legs and tucked the blankets back in around her before slipping into the ensuite bathroom. A cold shower was just what he needed. It’d help wake him up, as a bonus. It would be a long day of walking back to Ishgard today. He doubted he could teleport to the aetheryte up the damn hill, even after what was well over a day of rest. Aether exhaustion tended to do that. Scrape your reserves out and you’d be stuck recovering for a week.

The cold shower helped clear his mind, among other things. In the process he became increasingly aware of Cassiel sleeping on the other side of the wall and the forthcoming awkwardness. He could no longer hide behind exhaustion and be grateful she pitied him. At the same time, he probably shouldn’t just leave without saying  _ something _ . He was roughly drying his hair and mulling over what to say when he heard the bed creak and a soft voice call, “Estinien?”

Pants. He had put his pants back on. He still had no shirt on, but it was out there, with the rest of his gear. Estinien shoved a hand through his hair in an attempt to make it vaguely more presentable and opened the bathroom door, nearly walking straight into Cassiel. 

“Ah!” she squeaked, jumping slightly. After blinking profusely for a moment, her eyes settled directly on his chest. A blush bloomed across her cheeks. “ _ Oh _ ,” she breathed. 

Estinien froze. His face heated as well. He couldn’t really blame her, not after his gawking last night. The Azure Dragoon title was not claimed without a ridiculous amount of training. He shifted his weight slightly and it seemed to break her trance. “I-I’m going to shower,” she stammered, squeezing past him to push him out of the bathroom fully. The door shut behind him, leaving him with his towel.

_ She’s short _ , his brain helpfully supplied. 

The muted sounds of the shower started up behind him. Estinien took a breath to get his emotions in control and set about tending to his gear. He tugged on his shirt -he didn’t want to  _ impose _ \- and examined each part of his armor. Since he’d waylaid himself helping Cassiel last night, he hadn’t checked it after his mission yesterday? Two days ago? Guillaume was tasked with handling the report so at least that wasn’t late. Aymeric would probably be “upset”, doing his best to stay professional until Estinien dragged him to the Forgotten Knight for the drink he owes him. Two drinks, maybe three, at this rate. 

His mind wandered as he went through the routine of cleaning. What was Cassiel’s favourite drink? Did she flush after a few too many, like he had seen Aymeric do once or twice over the years? Her blush just a moment ago had been lovely, a deep rose that bloomed on her cheeks and slid down her throat, across the delicate wings of her collarbone. How would she look with a trail of bites-- the bathroom door opened again, interrupting his thoughts, and Cassiel stepped out wrapped in a towel. Fury take him, he hadn’t noticed the shower stop. To top it off, he was getting hard again. Estinien busied himself with the chestplate in his lap as she poked around in her bags. 

He stole a glance at her and watched the towel slide dangerously high as she bent over slightly.  _ Idiot, idiot, idiot _ , his brain yelled at him. His blush had surely spread to the tips of his ears by now. Estinien redoubled his efforts on the chestplate as Cassiel let out a soft “aha!” and triumphantly pulled something out of her pack. The movement in his periphery stilled and he dared another glance up at her. 

She was looking at him, clothes in hand, with an … interesting expression on her face. It took her a second to notice him looking back. She startled and then blurted, “You’re really pretty!” The blush spread back over her face as her eyes widened and she started to stammer out, “Uh, I mean, it-it’s okay if you never want to see me again. You probably have to for the last dragoon training, but after that--”

“What.” Estinien’s brain had finally caught up.  _ Good job, famed Azure Dragoon of Ishgard. _ “I mean--” he stood and the chestplate that had been in his lap clattered to the floor. It made them both jump. “I mean,” he grinned at her. “You’re really pretty too. Of course I want to see you again.”

Cassiel gradually smiled back at him and then seemed to suddenly remember she was in just a towel. “I- uh, I’m going to go-- clothes.” She retreated back into the bathroom and the door slammed shut, followed by a muted string of curses. 

Estinien fell back into the chair and dropped his head into his hands.  _ Halone’s tit, I’m so fucking stupid. _

\--- 

Cassiel opened the bathroom door much later, clothed and  _ finally _ not blushing. He’d called her  _ pretty _ and it'd taken a few cycles of trying to empty her mind before remembering and blushing all over again before it had stuck. In the meantime, Estinien had finished poking at his armor and had donned it. She'd heard some quiet grumbling and the mechanical clicks. His helmet sat on the table as he rearranged his pack, hair falling gently over his shoulder. 

She paused in the doorway, mind suddenly blank. She'd had a  _ plan _ , damn it, and his stupid hair had derailed it again. Estinien looked up at her, “Hi.” He grinned and it was a little lopsided and her knees were going weak. 

“Hi.” She beamed back at him and immediately sat down in the chair opposite him before her knees betrayed her. Right, the next part. Which she couldn’t remember. She had to say something, they couldn’t just sit here staring at each other all day, not that she was  _ opposed _ to that, he was very pretty after all--

“I’m not going to be teleporting anywhere for awhile, after the stunt I pulled last night. To that end, I’ll need a guide through Gridania, if you’re available...?” Right, they both had to go back to Coerthas. 

Cassiel hummed in agreement and kicked the sack under the table full of rusted dragoon armor. “I have to get back to Alberic with all this armor anyway.” That really made it sound like she had no choice but to help him. “We can have a picnic lunch! Sasamero always has something tasty.”

Estinien nodded at that and stood. He’d finished packing and was shoving the helmet into his pack. “I’d like to see some of the places you talked about yesterday.” Oh, he had actually remembered what she was rambling about.

"It's going to take longer then. North Shroud isn't very pretty." She scrunched her nose. "We can cut through Bentbranch first."

"By all means. You're the guide here." 

"Won't be much guiding, don't get your hopes too far up. Speaking of, I'm sorry about…" Cassiel gestured vaguely. "All of this? I made a lot of mistakes during that fight, I should have been fine." She sighed softly and started shoving the few out of place things back into her bag. "There's been so much to do I haven't had any decent sleep in gods knows how long. I'm surprised I didn't collapse out there."

"No harm done," Estinien chuckled quietly. "Not to me, at any rate. How's your arm doing?" He wandered around to look at it.

Cassiel poked at it. The dull ache had disappeared sometime while she was sleeping and it barely twinged now. "Seems fine. I can probably take out the stitches tonight." 

Estinien paused. "Again, not a medical professional, but don't you have to wait quite a bit longer?" His fingers were cool where they traced the scar. 

"I heal fast." She finished her final check on her bag. Estinien was looking at her strangely.  _ This is when he decides he never wants to see me again. _ But he just shook his head slowly, chuckling. 

"You are quite the enigma, Lady Cassiel." 

She shrugged, slinging her pack over her shoulder. "You kind of have to be when you routinely get thrown at primals."

\---

They left the inn just as the city was waking up for the day. The people of Gridania had known Cassiel before her rise to fame as the Warrior of Light, so they generally treated her like just another adventurer. Which meant that Estinien, with his weird, spiny armor, got to be the center of everyone’s gawking. It was nice, for a change. Cassiel had spent the previous week in Limsa where even the markets grew silent when she walked through.

In contrast, the markets of Gridania were already busy with activity, despite most shops not being open yet. Sasamero was gracious enough to sell her some sandwiches and cans of tea before he officially opened his shop. He winked at Cassiel as he handed the paper bag to Estinien. “You have enough on your hands, he can handle one little bag.” Estinien, to his credit, simply bowed and accepted the bag, smirking at Sasamero. 

Cassiel took Estinien on a tour of Gridania. It was nice, to wander through the little hallways carved into the earth and to walk across wooden bridges spanning babbling streams. She had always found Gridania peaceful. It and the resident’s connection with nature meant the land created the city, not the buildings. She found herself falling silent sometimes, just appreciating the beauty of the city. 

-

Gridania was the polar opposite to Ishgard. Made into the earth, with wood and fabrics. Flowers bloomed  _ everywhere _ . All manner of races mingled and lived together. There were surely problems, Estinien was not naive enough to assume there were not. Gridanians hid them a lot better than Ishgardians. 

Cassiel guided him past the main aetheryte, down the hill, in front of the building that housed both the inn and the airship landing. She paused, looking over the cliff to the waters below. “This is my favourite spot.” Flowers lined the cliff top, small bursts of colour among the grass. “When it rains, I like sitting and listening to the waterfall.” He watched her face, watched her smile peacefully. The breeze played with pieces of her hair. “It’s just so beautiful.” And then she was looking at him.

He grinned back at her. He couldn’t help it. Her energy was infectious and so starkly different from the woman he first met all those moons ago. “May I kiss you?” The words were out of his mouth before he thought them, entranced as he was. 

A look of surprise replaced the soft smile on her face. It was there for just a moment, before another beautiful smile broke out. She stepped closer, until there was barely any space between them. “You’ll have to come down here for that.” 

He obliged, leaning down to meet her in a kiss, placing his hands on her waist. She giggled against his lips and threw her arms around his neck. 

When they broke apart, some time later, he didn’t know, they were both flushed and grinning stupidly at each other. Cassiel tugged on his hand. “Come on, we got a forest to see.”

\---

She led him into the Black Shroud. Impossibly tall trees reached branches into the sky. The canopy filtered some of the light, but it was still brighter than his memories of the Coerthan forests. All manner of creatures flitted around in the overgrowth. Flowers still bloomed in wild patches everywhere they could. Estinien and Cassiel’s hands stayed tightly clasped together, their fingers intertwined. She gradually led him through Bentbranch and the surrounding forests, collecting flowers as they went, before stopping in front of a walkway made out of a gigantic tree root and declaring she was hungry. They found a log that wasn’t too rotted and finally parted hands. Cassiel poked through the flowers she had collected and selected a few as Estinien sorted out the sandwiches and drinks. They ate in companionable silence. She wove a crown of flowers as Estinien picked them out of the pile for her. 

“Estinien,” she said, looking up at him as he selected the next flower. “Can I braid your hair? I want to put some flowers in it too, but it’s okay if that’s too much.” 

He handed her a delicate yellow flower. “You’re welcome to try. It doesn’t like holding much of anything.” Their height difference meant he ended up sitting on the ground, to the side of her, so the spines of his armor didn’t maul her as she worked. Cassiel gently finger-combed his hair and when she was satisfied, started to gather it into bundles. Estinien watched the forest around them as she worked, handing her up flowers when she nudged him. 

They sat in relative silence. It surprised him a little when Cassiel spoke. “I’m sorry I’m being so forward, so … energetic. You’re getting a very concentrated version of…” she trailed off, sighed. “Me, I guess. This whole warrior of light thing has been hard. A lot of people have a lot of expectations. They don’t treat me like a person, I’m just some hero for them to worship. So I tend to just … shut down, be quiet. It’s easier than the looks and sighs I’d get. They just want their emotionless weapon.” Her hands continued their gentle carding. 

Estinien kept his face carefully neutral. She could see it from where she sat. He wanted to get angry, to get upset, to show them how wrong they were. “For what it’s worth, I quite enjoy the Cassiel with personality.” Her hands stilled in his hair, for just a moment. He roughly cleared his throat. “And since you’ve been so candid with me, I’ll return the favor.” For better or worse. “I didn’t want the trainer position. Aymeric essentially bribed me into taking it, which in reality was just him being nice. I don’t get the luxury of choice in my life. After those first few sessions, I was pretty convinced you were going to just stop showing up eventually. End up dead in some dungeon.” He picked up a blue flower, twirled it between his fingers. The silence stretched. “I’m glad you’re not. You’re strong, more than just physically. You’re beautiful, you’re eloquent.” Her fingers tightened in his hair. “You’re a mystery I want to figure out. I’ve never met anyone like you, Cassiel. My life will never be the same, and I’m glad for that.”

She’d stopped moving entirely. Estinien took a breath and looked up over his shoulder at her. That wonderful blush had spread over her face again and she looked away when he met her eyes. He turned, to press his chest against her legs, to barely touch a hand to her cheek, to turn her face towards his. She looked at him again, he couldn’t read the expression on her face, but a tear rolled down her cheek.

He gently brushed it away. “Happy or sad?” He asked. He didn’t know what he wanted the answer to be. 

She looked down again. Her hand brushed his. “Happy.” She tried to take a deep breath but it nearly broke into a sob. “I’m sorry, I just-- I’m--” He gently brushed his thumb over her cheek. She closed her eyes. Took a deep breath. “I’m not used to this, to being…” she trailed off, her eyes blinking away more tears. 

It hurt him, deeply, thoroughly, to see her like this. To see her mood change wildly when she was treated with anything approaching kindness. “You more than deserve it, Cassiel.”

A chocobo chirped loudly nearby, breaking the quiet of the forest and startling both of them. Estinien dropped his hands and looked around. He really was smitten, he’d dropped his guard entirely. In an unfamiliar place at that.

Cassiel wiped at her face and shook herself slightly. She picked up his hair; she’d braided it into a thick, fluffy braid and had woven the majority of the flower she’d collected into it. Her hands started to pick at a flower. “Sorry,” she muttered. “I’ll take these out.”

He stilled her hands with one of his. “Leave it. It’ll make putting the helmet on easier, when we get to Coerthas.” The flowers would probably get crushed, but he can pick them out later, when he gets home. 

Cassiel perked up a bit, her curiosity piqued. “How do you keep all that hair in your helmet? I’ve never seen so much as a strand out of place…” Estinien smirked and described all the little tricks he’d picked up over the years, though it mostly boiled down to ‘literal years of practice’. He cleaned up the remains of their lunch as he spoke, ignoring how she occasionally sniffled or wiped at her face again. 

When they were ready to leave, he placed the flower crown she had woven on her head and held his hand out. “Shall we?” She hesitated, and then nodded and took his hand, leading him once again through the Black Shroud.

\---

Night was beginning to fall as they reached Coerthas. The Observatorium was just around the corner, but Estinien stopped her before it came into view. “This is where we’ll part. Are you going to be okay for the night?”

She nodded and squeezed at his hand. “I’ll bug Haurchefant for a bed. I’ve actually got energy to deal with him after all that sleep.” And if he didn’t have anything, she could just teleport back to Gridania. “But…” Cassiel looked around and then back at Estinien. “Which way are you going? Don’t you have to go through the Observatorium too?”

“I’m going over the cliffs,” he jerked a thumb over his shoulder, indicating the very steep cliffs behind him. “Cut across them to get to the Gates.”

Cassiel hummed in understanding. She didn’t want to leave, she didn’t want  _ him _ to leave yet. He probably felt the same; he hadn’t moved yet either. She reached up and placed her hands on his shoulders. “Come down here?” she asked, tugging on him. “For a kiss?” He smiled and followed her down, pushing her against the cliff at her back. The rock bit into her shoulders and she gasped against his mouth. His arms wrapped around her waist and she grasped desperately at him, pushing her body against his. His armor poked and prodded at her but she didn’t care. He was so kind and caring and he said she  _ mattered _ and she could cry all over again just thinking about it. 

A cold, cruel wind blew past them and she shivered violently. Estinien broke the kiss, but he lingered at her lips. “Go get inside, Cass. Warm up. I’ll see you soon, I promise.” He brushed a lock of hair behind her ear, fingers trailing gently across her cheek. She reluctantly did not follow him up as he stood straight. He was right, even if it hurt. He twisted his hair, still in the braid, up and tucked it under his helmet. His shoulders squared and he squeezed her hand. 

“See you soon,” Cassiel smiled at him. He let go.

She watched him jump to the top of the cliff, where he paused to look back at her. She waved at him. Hopefully he couldn’t see how sad her smile had turned. He bowed at her and jumped over the other side of the cliff towards Ishgard.

-

It hurt, leaving her. Leaving her to the whims of people who didn’t care for her, who just wanted to use her. It hurt walking back into Ishgard, where the church would gladly do the same to him. 

Estinien’s linkpearl chimed. Cass-- no, he’d completely forgotten to sync his linkpearl with hers. Here he was, spouting about seeing her again and he couldn’t even remember to do the one thing he needed to. Aymeric’s voice filtered through his thoughts. “I swear to any and all gods, if you are not in Coerthas yet Estinien--” By the sounds of it, he’d been calling quite a few times over the past day. Or two days.

“Aye, aye, I’m here. Just going through the Gates.” The guards had barely glanced at him as he passed them. He had the armor to thank for that. There were sounds of surprise and papers being messed with from the other end of the line.

“Where in the hells have you been? Guillaume reported an uneventful mission but then you disappeared for 2 days!”

Estinien sighed. “I’m fine, you shouldn’t have been worried in the first place.” A drink, he needed a drink. “Look, I’m heading over the Steps now, I’ll be in Ishgard soon. Meet me in the Knight in 20 minutes, I owe you more than a few drinks.”

“I expect a full explanation.” Aymeric had settled back into his Lord Commander voice.

“Yes,  _ sir _ . Just let me get out of this damn armor.” He cut the connection and smothered the urge to punch something. As if he wouldn’t explain himself to Aymeric. Eventually. Off the record. 

The towering stone spires of Ishgard loomed above him. Estinien settled his emotions, squared his shoulders, and leapt in.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Twitter [@_Raleighen](https://twitter.com/_Raleighen)


End file.
